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U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps BuAer Nos
 

First Alphanumeric Series (1911-1914)

  
. . . . . . . . . ...
 

The U. S. Navy acquired its first aircraft in 1911, a Curtiss Triad pusher floatplane. Originally, the US Navy assigned serial numbers to its airplanes sequentially by manufacturer, a separate sequence of numbers for each manufacturer. The serial number had two parts. The first part was a letter which designated the manufacturer-- A for Curtiss, B for Wright, etc. The letter was followed by a number to show the sequence of procurement from each manufacturer. For example, the first Curtiss-built Navy airplane was serialed A-1, the second A-2, etc.

The system had to be quickly adapted to accommodate different types of airplanes obtained from the same manufacturer--Curtiss had to be given another letter, C, to distinguish its flying boats from its pontoon seaplanes, the letter D was assigned to Burgess and Curtis (no relation), and E was assigned to Curtiss amphibians.

In March of 1914, this manufacturer-based designation system was abandoned and was replaced by a two-letter type and subtype classification scheme.

 
. . . . . . . . . ...
. A-1 Curtiss Model E (Triad) seaplane later AH-1 . .
. A-2  Curtiss pusher landplane  later E-1 . .
. A-3 Curtiss pusher seaplanes  later AH-2 . .
. A-4 Curtiss pusher seaplanes  later AH-3 . .
. B-1 Wright Model C-H seaplane later AH-4 . .
. B-2 Wright Model C-H seaplane later AH-5 . .
. B-3 Wright Model C-H seaplane later AH-6 . .
. C-1 Curtiss F-boat later AB-1 . .
. C-2 Curtiss F-boat later AB-2 . .
. C-3 Curtiss F-boat later AB-3 . .
. C-4 Curtiss F-boat later AB-4 . .
. C-5 Curtiss F-boat later AB-5 . .
. D-1 Burgess K  later AB-6 . .
. D-2 Burgess H later AB-7 . .
. E-1 Curtiss pusher landplane  former A-2 . .
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last update 1. March 2013

written 1. November 2003

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